John Avlon is an award-winning journalist, author and historian. He is the author of Lincoln and the Fight for Peace, Washington’s Farewell; Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America; and Independent Nation — as well as the upcoming Theodore Roosevelt’s Guide to Life: The True Story of the Man in the Arena.

He is the chairman of Citizens Union of New York, the state's oldest good government group. Previously, he worked as a Senior Political Analyst and Anchor at CNN as well as the Editor-in-Chief and Managing Director of The Daily Beast. In 2024, he was the Democratic congressional nominee in New York’s 1st Congressional District.

He served as Chief Speechwriter and Deputy Communications Director for Mayor Rudy Giuliani during his second term. He and his team were responsible for writing the eulogies of the firefighters and police officers murdered in the destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

He holds an MBA from Columbia University and a BA from Yale University. He lives in New York with his wife, Margaret Hoover and their two children.